Chinese Zodiac
by Paragon Dragon
Summary: When Cam follows Daniel into a temple they've found off world, he accidentally triggers a device that affects him in a way no one believed was possible.
1. Chapter 1

******Characters:** Cam, Daniel and the rest of the team**  
****Cate********gory:** supernatural, D/C friendship**  
****Warnings:** none**  
****Spoilers:** none**  
****Disclaimer:** not mine. No money is being made.**  
Feedback: **yes, please!  
******Summary:** When Cam follows Daniel into a temple they find off world, he accidentally triggers a device that affects him in a way no one believed was possible.

---

Daniel walked slowly inside the temple and let his eyes adjust to the dusk as he took in the interior. It looked Asian and on the walls hung tablets covered with what seemed to be some kind of Chinese characters. Daniel itched to find out what secrets those tablets could tell him, but it would take hours to read it all and he hadn't brought his camcorder with him either. On the other hand he didn't have time for more than a quick look anyway. He had found out about the temple from the natives of this planet just a little while ago and the team was due back to the SGC in four hours time. Now he hoped that he'd be able to talk Landry into letting him go back for a couple of days. From what the village elders he'd talked to had told him, he knew that he might find something in there that could be of value. He just wasn't sure what it was yet, but he hoped that he'd get to figure it out.

Daniel then saw that on each of the walls there were three large, circular paintings near the ceiling. He stepped up to have a closer look and realized that it was paintings of the Chinese zodiac. He was right below the painting of the Rooster, and was amazed by how life like it looked. It was sitting on top of a fence, looking straight at him with a proud posture, and if he didn't know better he'd almost expect it to start moving and crowing.

"Whoa. Someone knew how to paint."

Daniel jumped at the sound of Cam's voice and turned around to give his young team leader a dark glare.

"What?"

"Don't sneak up on me like that", Daniel replied and started to walk along the wall, stopping for a brief moment under each painting before moving on again.

"And someone seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of bed this morning", Cam said pointedly and leaned against the wall.

"Nope, I just haven't had that much coffee today."

"Right. So what do you think this place is?"

"Don't know yet. The elder I spoke to said something about people coming here when they want to find their inner spirit, but I won't know for sure until I've translated these writings."

"Do you really have time for that?"

"No, but I thought that I could ask Landry to let me go back. Maybe we can find something of use here."

"If General Landry lets you return. We have more important things to do than checking out old ruins, Jackson."

Cam started to walk across the room to take a better look at a painting on the opposite wall when the temple suddenly lit up and lights started to circle the paintings. Cam froze on the spot and cast a glance at Daniel, who'd turn around and was now staring at him.

"Mitchell, what did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing!"

Daniel opened his mouth to say something more, but closed it again when beams of different colored light suddenly shot out from the paintings and focused directly on Cam, illuminating him. Daniel now saw that the colonel was standing within a circle on the floor lined with more Chinese characters, some of which he recognized as the signs for the creatures in the zodiac. Then he heard something starting up and by the look of Cam's face he could tell that he'd heard it too.

"I think you better get away from there", Daniel said as he frantically started to search for something – _anything –_ that even remotely resembled a control panel or a switch that would turn this whole thing off. He did not want to find out what would happen next, not until he was sure that it was perfectly safe.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Cam snarled. He pushed and pulled with all his strength but it was like he was stuck in a block of ice. No matter what he did he couldn't move an inch. He was complete immobile.

Suddenly some of the paintings started to shut down while those beside them turned brighter and brighter. It didn't take long before one single beam of white light was shining on Cam from the painting of the Dog. The light shone brighter and brighter by the second until it was so bright that Daniel almost couldn't see Cam anymore. The next second the light flashed and then the temple was dark again.

Daniel turned his flashlight on Cam and saw him standing there, seemingly okay. He was breathing heavily and blinked rapidly with a somewhat confused look on his face, but other than that he looked fine.

"You okay, Mitchell?" Daniel asked and walked over to Cam, who gave him an affirmative nod and stepped out of the circle.

"Yeah, I'm fine", he said. Then he shot the painting on offending glare. "What the hell just happened?"

"I have no idea. You sure you're okay?"

"Positive. I'm feeling a little tingly, maybe, but that's it. Do you think it was something dangerous?"

"If what the elders told me is anything to go by I'd say no, but the only way to find out is to translate all these tablets, and _if _this device is dangerous, I'm not sure if we've got time for that."

"Right. Then I say we go back to the village and see if we can find someone who knows exactly what this temple is for."

They left the temple and walked back to the village in silence. Daniel kept a close eye on Cam the entire time in case any effects from the beam wouldn't show until later, but nothing happened, which was a kind of relief. Not even Daniel himself felt anything that could indicate if he'd been effected too, but then again, he had been standing to the side while Cam had taken the full force of the beam, whatever it was. Maybe they'd be okay.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

They made their way back to the village and spotted Sam and Teal'c by the river just outside of it. They were watching a group of young men demonstrating the hand-to-hand combat techniques of their people, and Cam could immediately tell that they might learn something from them. Too bad that they'd leave so soon, but perhaps this would give them a good reason to start trading with this people.

"What are you two doing back so early?" Sam asked once Cam and Daniel had joined her and Teal'c.

"Mitchell managed to get himself into some trouble", Daniel replied. "He triggered a device inside the temple that did something to him, but we have no idea of what or if it's dangerous or not."

Sam immediately looked concerned. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sam", Cam said. "All the thing did was shining some lights on me. It made me feel a little tingly for a while, but that's it."

"What about you, Daniel?"

"I'm fine", he said. "Mitchell was the one who got exposed directly. I don't think I was affected at all. Me and Mitchell are gonna go and talk to the elders I spoke to earlier. Hopefully they can tell us exactly what the device does, and if there's any reason for us to worry."

"And if they can't?"

"Then I guess I'll just have to translate the texts I found in there."

"Perhaps it would be wise for you to go back to Stargate Command and let Dr. Lam examine you", Teal'c said then.

"Yeah, who knows what that thing might have done to you?" Sam added in agreement.

"I don't think we're in a hurry, Sam", Daniel replied. "I think it's best if we talk to the elders first, then Lam can poke and prod us as much as she want. I don't think it will take long, perhaps an hour at the most."

"I'm still going to contact the SGC right away and give them a heads up", Sam said. "That way they'll be prepared for you when we go back."

"Good idea. See you guys later."

With Cam at his heels, Daniel went into the village to search for the elders. He found one of them, an old man called Veltin, in the gathering place in the middle of the village, sitting in the shade of an old oak tree that was growing there. He was surrounded by small children and they were all listening very intently to what he was telling them, which sounded to be one of this people's old legends. Veltin stopped talking when he spotted the two Tauri men and after telling the children to go play for a while, he stood up and came to greet them.

"Daniel", he said with a smile. "You are back early. Did you not find the temple interesting?"

"No, I did, master Veltin", Daniel replied, "it's just that Colonel Mitchell accidentally activated something inside the temple and I was wondering if you could tell us what it does."

"Well, it shows you your inner spirit. Your totem, if you like. I am sure I mentioned that to you before?"

"Yes, but you forgot to mention how."

"My apologies. And I assure you that the temple is not dangerous, as I think you feared it would be. All it has ever done when someone steps inside the circle on the floor, is to cast lights from all the spirit paintings and then show the one inside the circle what inner spirit he or she has." Veltin turned to Cam and gave him a curious look. "May I ask what your inner spirit is, Colonel?"

"If you mean which painting all the lights ended up shining from, then I think it was the dog", Cam said while looking at Daniel for confirmation and got an affirmative nod in response.

"Ah, yes", Veltin said with a smile. "I suspected it might be so."

"You did?"

"Yes. You have many characteristics that are emblematic for someone with the spirit of a dog."

"Just let me ask you something, master", Daniel interrupted and looked at Veltin. "When someone of your people go to the temple to find out what their inner spirit is, what exactly happens after the spirit has been revealed?"

"Why, the light turns off, of course", Veltin said with a slightly puzzled look.

"The light never gets brighter first?"

"No. Are you saying that is what happened?"

"Yep", Cam said. "The light also made me a bit tingly all over, and I couldn't move."

"Well, this is highly unusual", Veltin mumbled. "Something like this has never happened before during my lifetime."

"But you've heard of it, right?" Cam asked.

"Yes. Some of our scripts tells us about those who are so connected with their inner spirit that after it has been revealed, they have the ability to become their spirit at will."

Cam gave the elder a skeptic look. "What, are you saying that I now have the ability to turn into a dog?"

"Yes."

Daniel was just about to ask something more when Sam hailed them over the radio.

"What is it, Sam?" he asked.

"General Landry wants you and Cam to come back to the SGC immediately", Sam said. "He thinks it's best not to wait with the exam in case you were affected in a bad way that hasn't shown yet."

"Look, I really don't think we're in any danger, Sam. Master Veltin just told us that the device is completely harmless."

"It doesn't matter, Daniel. The general says he is ordering you to come back."

"Fine. We're on our way."

Daniel and Cam said a quick good bye and then they returned to the Stargate. When the got through, Dr. Lam and a medical team were already waiting for them and both men got whisked away to the infirmary for their examinations. Both had to endure a vast variety of tests that included a lot of poking and prodding, but in the end, they both came out clean.

"To be honest, I can't find anything wrong with any of you", Lam said once all test results had come back. "Whatever that device did, I don't think it affected you at all."

"So I am not able to turn into a dog then?" Cam asked.

"It's not very likely, Colonel", Lam replied with a smile. "You two are free to go now. We're done here."

---

After the debriefing with Landry, where it was decided that they would send a team back to start the negotiations the next day, the team was free to go home. Cam had almost finished changing into his civvies when he started to notice that the tingling sensation was coming back. For a moment he considered to go tell Lam about it, but then he decided to shrug it off. It was probably nothing, and Carolyn had said he was fine, hadn't she?

Before they left for the day, the team decided they'd have a movie night the coming Friday, after Vala came back from her private excursion off-world, and Daniel would be the one to pick the movie this time. They parted shortly after, and after making a quick stop to get some Chinese take-out, Cam headed home. He ate in front of the TV, lazily zapping through the channels but didn't find anything interesting to watch and decided that he might just as well go to bed.

While Cam made himself ready he felt another way of tingles wash over him, but then he laughed at himself for being so jumpy. It was nothing but shivers! But he still couldn't stop himself from wondering how it would be like to become a dog once in a while and tried to imagine what breed he'd be. With the image of himself as a Pug in sunglasses running around in the halls of the SGC, he went to bed and chuckled himself to sleep, not knowing what the next morning would bring.

**TBC**


End file.
